When anger goes viral, but lacks roots
The recent CJP-led Gen Z protests were spontaneous, leaderless, and widely seen. They forced a minister’s resignation. That is power.
But political theorist Anton Jäger calls this “hyperpolitics” — protests driven by digital virality, not organization. The 2020-21 farmers’ protest had months of groundwork, unions, and demands. The Gen Z protests had memes, influencers, and outrage.
Hyperpolitics can win quick battles. It is good at naming and shaming. But it struggles to sustain pressure or negotiate policy. Without institutional grounding, it risks burning out or being co-opted.
The danger is not the protest. It is the illusion that posting equals politics. Real change needs both: digital mobilization and organizational structure. The farmers had both. Gen Z currently has one.
This doesn’t mean dismissing young protesters. Their anger is real. Corruption in exams, unemployment, and lack of voice are structural. But translating that anger into policy requires parties, unions, and sustained campaigns.
If hyperpolitics matures, it could reshape Indian democracy. If it stays as spectacle, it will be remembered as a moment, not a movement.
The task for Gen Z is clear: turn the scroll into structure. Otherwise, the next viral moment will replace this one, and nothing will change.